Wicket-keeper Sarfraz rose up to the occasion with an excellent record of 76 runs that guided Pakistan to a convincing victory versus New Zealand in the first of two T20 internationals on Thursday.
Defeating Kiwis by seven wickets, Pakistan lost only three wickets to reach the target at 140 runs. Sarfraz became the first Pakistani wicket-keeper to have scored the biggest innings after Kamran Akmal who hit 73.
Today’s match win also grabbed another honor for Pakistan as the side became the first team in the world to have won 50 T20 matches out of 84. It faced defeat in 32 face-offs.
Earlier, Twenty20 team skipper Shahid Afridi elected to field against New Zealand. Afridi was of the view, “I want to give my bowlers the chance to grip the ball well.”
Pakistani skipper expressed joy to have Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz back in the squad after their injury lay-offs.
Corey Anderson hit his highest Twenty20 score of 48 to lead New Zealand to 135-7 in the first of two internationals.
Put into bat, New Zealand were led by Anderson, Luke Ronchi (33) and Martin Guptill (32) after losing their first three wickets for just 15 runs.
Anderson hit four sixes and a boundary off 37 balls and added 51 for the fifth wicket with Ronchi.
For Pakistan, left-arm pacemen Sohail Tanvir finished with 2-24 and Mohammad Irfan took 2-27.
The second Twenty20 international will also be played in Dubai on Friday.
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Awais Zia, Haris Sohail, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Raza Hasan, Saad Nasim, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor. (AFP)
